Women in acute mental stress continue to be held at Europe's largest female prison despite longstanding concerns, a new report has found.

The Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which assesses the treatment of people in custody, has released its annual report into HMP Bronzefield in Surrey.

A key finding from the report is that the prison has some inmates who should be in a mental health facility but are imprisoned due to a shortage of secure psychiatric hospital beds.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the "sobering report is yet another example of how the prison system is not working for most women".

Earlier this month, these concerns were raised at the inquest of Diana Grant, an inmate with paranoid schizophrenia who fatally choked on a piece of underwear.

'Place of safety'

The IMB issued a similar warning in 2023, with inspectors concluding this year that the concerns remain largely unresolved.

The IMB found that, in 2024-25, a total of 22 women were sent to HMP Bronzefield - which has capacity of 527 prisoners - as a 'place of safety' under the Mental Health Act.

This was up from 19 in 2023-24.

Moreover, the 18-bed healthcare unit is consistently full of women with complex mental health needs.

Inspectors found there was usually a waiting list of prisoners referred for an in-patient bed, but who must be managed on the house blocks due to lack of availability.

'Considerable pressure'

Another issue is that the shortage of beds in secure psychiatric hospitals results in significant transfer delays for prisoners.

During the reporting year, a total of 48 prisoners transferred to secure psychiatric hospitals, compared with 34 in 2023-2024 and 56 in 2022-2023.

The target time for transfer is 28 days from the date of referral.

This target was met in 45% of cases, with a further 27% waiting more than 56 days.

This puts considerable pressure on staff, other prisoners and beds, the IMB found.

The board praised prison staff for their performance in extremely challenging conditions, highlighting that HMP Bronzefield was never intended to provide the specialist mental healthcare to the extent now required.

The MoJ spokesperson said: "Many women arrive in custody with complex needs and are victims themselves, often of domestic abuse, and over half are mothers.

"We have established a Women's Justice Board to advise on reducing the number of women in jail and are changing the law so that more women will serve their sentences in the community, where they will be better supported to turn their lives around."